The tree-sprite was watching her, sitting on a single thin limb folded down from the tree’s crown to stretch as far as it could from the trunk. It still had one hand thrust inside the wood, and its green eyes burned maliciously. There were scores and notches in its hide where the Swarm had attacked it, but they were already starting to fill in and scab over. Alice glared back at it defiantly, only a hint of colour in her cheeks.

‘We wouldn’t have to do this,’ she shouted, ‘if you would be reasonable!’

Another tree limb unfolded, club-like and massive. It raised itself up to a great height, then plunged downwards with shocking speed, hitting the ground hard enough to raise a mighty crunch and a puff of dust, like a giant pounding the earth in a tantrum. Alice couldn’t help but jump backwards, and she thought she saw satisfaction in the vicious creature’s eyes.

‘You’re not going to scare me like that,’ Alice muttered.

She started walking in a circle around the tree, just beyond the thing’s striking distance. It followed her, leaping from branch to thin upper branch when they’d stretched as far as they could. The willow fronds rustled and reached out as she approached, as though they could scent prey.

But not the whole time, she thought, watching them carefully. There’s a moment—

It wasn’t much of a plan, really, but it was more than she’d had the first time she found herself in a prison-book. She tugged on the Swarm thread as far as it would go, summoning as many of the little creatures as she could manage. They tumbled from the air around her with a susurrus of pops, until a huddled crowd of several hundred of the things surrounded her. Meeting the tree-sprite’s gaze, she gave it a slow, deliberate smile, and then extended a finger and a mental command.

The swarmers charged. The willow fronds rustled, spread wide to receive them, but the little creatures were too fast when they were running full tilt. They shot through gaps in the leaves or pushed the thin tendrils aside, ignoring the razor-sharp leaves. When they were past the perimeter of hanging branches, they converged on the tree trunk.